World: Between Hemispheres

From Madagascar to the Libyan Desert a single battle is being fought:
the battle to keep Africa open as the supply crossroads of the United
Nations. Rommel's dusty warriors menaced the land bridge between Africa
and the Middle East.
Vichy intrigue and Japanese submarines at Madagascar menaced the
waterway up the African coast toward Eritrea, Suez. Persia and Russia.

Three years ago Africa's strategic potentialities were almost untouched.
Now airfields pock equatorial jungle and flinty desert, hop-stops for
U.S. planes ferried across the South Atlantic bound for Egypt and the
Middle East. Gun...